The Annie Café & Bar, one of the most known restaurant names in Texas, has been thrilling Houston diners for nearly 45 years. This week, its reputation is taking on international dimensions as the culinary attraction within the new, billion- dollar expansion project at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
A gleaming outpost of The Annie Café & Bar, a Houston classic that is part of the Berg Hospitality Group restaurant portfolio, has opened as an all-day, full-service dining option at the new Terminal D-West Pier at IAH. The D-West Pier (featuring new gates D1 through D6) is part of a $1.458 billion IAH redevelopment project aimed at enhancing travel experience and accommodating international passenger growth.
The original Café Annie put Houston on the national dining map when it opened in 1980. As The Annie Café & Bar at IAH, it is now ready to make a lasting impression on a new class of global travelers as the most acclaimed local restaurant within the Houston Airport System.
James Beard Award-winning chef Robert Del Grande, The Annie Café & Bar’s chef emeritus and partner, oversaw the project that offers a new level of dining luxury at the airport. It was long in the making.
SSP America, a division of SSP Group, a leading operator of food and beverage brands in travel locations worldwide, reached out to Del Grande six years ago as part of its efforts to infuse airport dining with more regional flavors that suggest a “taste of place.”
The Annie Café & Bar fit the bill. As one of the pioneers of Southwestern cuisine, Del Grande gave Houston a bold new way of experiencing fine dining with an emphasis on Texas foodways and Gulf flavors touched by international inflections. For his work he was awarded Houston’s first James Beard Award as Best Chef Southwest in 1992.
That renown was appealing to SSP America which worked with Del Grande through the long gestation period of putting The Annie Café & Bar stamp at a Houston airport.
Del Grande said he was given wide latitude for menu development. While The Annie Café & Bar classics were obviously welcome, the restaurant’s breakfast/lunch/dinner format required Del Grande to envision a new menu with all-day approach and appeal as well as cooking workarounds given the absence of live-fire grilling and smoking.
The IAH menu includes signatures such as Crab Tostadas, Seafood Campechana, Steak Salad and The Café Burger. But it also has an inventive new take on The Annie’s Bacon-Wrapped Quail as well as a new iteration of Del Grande’s much-copied coffee-encrusted filet of beef. New creations include Cochinita Pibil-Style Chicken Wings and a dish of Texas Redfish (cooked in banana leaves and served with black beans) inspired by the Yucatan. Breakfast items include an American Platter, Huevos Rancheros, Breakfast Tacos, a Green Chile Omelet and Brioche French Toast, while lunch serves up a Fried Chicken Sandwich, Cobb Salad, and Chicken-Fried Chicken Breast.
“It looks, feels and tastes like The Annie,” Del Grande said in a statement. “From the beginning I didn’t want to just stick my name on something. I wanted it to feel authentic and familiar. This is a legit CaféAnnie dining experience done with intention.”
For Del Grande, who turns 70 on Nov. 1, The Annie Café ands Bar IAH is another milestone in a career that has shaped the Houston dining landscape. His reputation for excellence now has daily wings taking it to all parts of the world.
